Why is marketing vital for entrepreneurs?
This talk today emphasises this point. Marketing is the number one factor in entrepreneurial failure.
To talk about marketing, first of all, what exactly is the difference between marketing and sales?
I believe that even ninety percent of sales practitioners may not have distinguished between what is marketing and what is sales. Even, many companies are grandly hanging the marketing department sign. I can say for sure that any start-up company that has a marketing department has no idea what marketing is.
To put it simply, marketing is not the same as sales, and sales is not the same as marketing. Marketing includes sales, and sales is just a specific detail of marketing execution.
Modern marketing was created by Philip Kotler, a professor at Northwestern University and a Ph. Philip Kotler.
Philip Kotler defines marketing as the whole process of first identifying a market need and then satisfying that market need through trade or manufacturing, based on that market need, as marketing.
There is also social marketing, which means that the process of satisfying market demand without endangering society is called social marketing.
The definition of marketing shows that marketing comes before and after the product, or that the essence of marketing is a system that runs throughout a business.
In terms of entrepreneurship, from the time you have the idea of starting a business, it is the beginning of marketing.
In other words, when you are ready to start a business, you should have first identified a market need. The way or process of starting your business is the way and process of meeting this market demand, which means that your whole process of starting a business is the process of marketing.
However, 95% of entrepreneurs do not understand this, and even more than 90% of entrepreneurs, when they start a business, have nothing but sentiment and money. With such entrepreneurial sentiment, it would be strange if they don't fail.
I've elaborated on what marketing is above. That is to say, marketing is basically an entrepreneurial process and a business system where all departments of the business are closely related to marketing. It is usually the decision maker of the business, not the sales manager, who decides what marketing is about, and this must be clearly distinguished.
In addition to marketing, entrepreneurs have to learn to sell.
Although marketing was talked about earlier, however, sales was not. Although marketing is not the same as sales, sales is not the same as marketing, but sales is marketing in the specific responsible for selling this implementation details, but also refers to an important implementation details of business real estate.
Marketing can guide companies to find market demand and meet market demand, a simple understanding, is to tell the precise customer, you want the product I have, you come to buy it, and this product only I have, or only my is the best.
However, if there is no specific sales to find the precise customer, and then tell the customer, then this marketing is likely to be just a paper exercise.
So, in order to realise a business realisation, apart from marketing guidance, you need real sales to execute.
Marketing guides a company to have a specific product through manufacturing or trading, but how can it be sold?
I'm afraid that without the right sales and promotion approach, no one will know either.
While the customer ultimately buys the product, it is the person who actually opens the door to the market.
The quickest way to open the door and sow the first seeds that can be spread is to pass them on from person to person, with trust between people being the fastest way to spread the word.
If a salesperson is asked to visit 100 strangers, the probability of closing a sale averages around 10%, depending on the product. However, if the relationship is introduced by an acquaintance, the probability of this transaction can be as high as 100%, and the average probability is up to 50% or more.
Another reason why business owners are advised to understand marketing and learn to sell is that it is difficult to recruit good sales managers or salespeople for start-up businesses.
A good sales manager will earn a high income, which is not a cost that the average startup can afford. Moreover, a good sales manager rarely jumps ship, and since he is good, the company he chooses to work for, whether it is the product, or the future development of the business, or the boss, is the result of his careful selection. Therefore, it is very difficult for a start-up to recruit an excellent sales manager to join.
Since startups can't recruit a good sales manager, it's up to the owner himself. If you, as a startup, can't sell, or can't do sales well, then the future of your startup is in doubt.
A business that can only manufacture products but not sell them has no future. As long as you can sell the products, the business will definitely survive.
To sum up, entrepreneurs must learn marketing theory as well as sales skills. This is not only the process and result of marketing your business, but it is the first factor that determines whether you will survive or not.